1998 World Series
The 1998 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the San Diego Padres. The Yankees swept the Series in four games to capture their second championship in three years, and their 24th overall. It was San Diego's second World Series appearance, and the first since losing in 1984 to the Detroit Tigers. For the first time the same city, San Diego, hosted both the Super Bowl and the final World Series game in the same year. Not only were they held in the same city, they were both held in the same stadium. Summary AL New York Yankees (4) vs NL San Diego Padres (0) Matchups Game 1 Saturday, October 17, 1998 at Yankee Stadium in New York, New York In Game 1, Kevin Brown took the hill for the Padres and he was opposed by Yankee ace and ALCS MVP David Wells. The Yankees began the scoring in the 2nd inning, when rookie Ricky Ledee laced a 2 run double into the right field corner with the bases loaded. Wells was battered hard for the only time in the postseason beginning with the 3rd when Greg Vaughn homered to rightcenter with a man aboard tying the game up at 2 runs apiece. In the 5th, Tony Gwynn smashed a 2 run shot off the facing of the upper deck and that was followed up immediately by Vaughn's second dinger of the night. Trailing 5-2, the Yanks made their comeback in the 7th. Jorge Posada singled and Ledee walked ending the night for Brown. It turned out to be a bad move by Padres manager Bruce Bochy. New York took advantage of the Padres bullpen with a 3 run homer by Chuck Knoblauch that tied the game at 5. Later in the inning, a 2-2 count call by home plate umpire Rich Garcia would prove to be decisive. Mark Langston's pitch was shown on television replays to be a borderline pitch, which Rich Garcia called a ball. Tino Martinez would take advantage of Garcia's call and on the next pitch sent a grand slam into the upper deck making it a 9-5 lead. The Padres would only score one more run as the Yankees won game one 9-6. Game 2 Sunday, October 18, 1998 at Yankee Stadium in New York, New York In Game 2, the Bombers would go up 2-0 thanks to a dreadful outing by San Diego starter Andy Ashby. Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada would go yard to assist the Yankees on offense. New York started Cuban import, Orlando Hernández, who was outstanding. Game 3 Tuesday, October 20, 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California With the Yankees up 2-0, they sent David Cone to the mound to face former Yankee pitcher, Sterling Hitchcock, the MVP of the NLCS. Both teams were kept off the scoreboard until the bottom of the 6th when Hitchcock himself led off the inning with a single off Cone. He and Qulivio Veras both scored two batters later when Tony Gwynn shot a double down the line past Tino Martinez at first base. Gwynn would also score in the inning to give San Diego a 3-0 lead. However, a half inning later the Yanks jumped on Hitchcock for two runs beginning with a home run to left-center by Scott Brosius. The second run came in after Shane Spencer doubled and scored on an error by Ken Caminiti. In the 8th, the call was made to Trevor Hoffman after Randy Myers walked Paul O'Neill to open the inning. Hoffman then walked Tino Martinez before Scott Brosius tagged a three run blast over the fence in dead center. With a 5-3 lead, the Yankees wrapped up the victory when Mariano Rivera picked up the save in the 9th to end it. Game 4 Wednesday, October 21, 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California The once struggling Andy Pettitte outdueled Kevin Brown in Game 4. Composite Box 1998 World Series (4-0): New York Yankees (A.L.) over San Diego Padres (N.L.) |}} Series quotes Uniforms This was the first year this particular World Series logo was used. It was only used again in the 1999 World Series. Both the 1998 and 1999 series were won by the Yankees. Broadcasting The television rights for the 1998 World Series went to Fox, as they had the rights to the World Series in even-numbered years under the television contract that was signed in 1996. Joe Buck once again provided the play-by-play, with Tim McCarver and Bob Brenly alongside him in the booth. For the first time, ESPN Radio was the home of the World Series, having taken the radio rights for Major League Baseball from the CBS Radio Network. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan provided the coverage for the network. Notes References * External links * Coverage of the 1998 Postseason * 1998 World Series by Baseball Almanac * History of the World Series - 1998 * Baseball-Reference.com - 1998 World Series Category:World Series World Series Category:New York Yankees Category:San Diego Padres